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WWE Raw Women's Championship
| firstchamp = Charlotte | finalchamp = }} The WWE Raw Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the Raw brand. It was introduced on April 3, 2016 at WrestleMania 32 as the WWE Women's Championship. It replaced the WWE Divas Championship, which had been introduced in 2008 as part of the WWE brand extension to complement the original WWE Women's Championship, before those two titles were unified under the Divas Championship name in 2010. The new Women's Championship has a unique title history, separate from the original. In mid-2016, the championship became exclusive to Raw, and SmackDown created the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship as a counterpart title. History On April 3, 2016, WWE Hall of Famer Lita appeared during the WrestleMania 32 pre-show and, after recapping the history of women's professional wrestling in WWE, unveiled the brand-new championship belt and declared that WWE's women would no longer be referred to as WWE Divas, but as "WWE Superstars" just as their male counterparts are. This came after the term "Diva" was scrutinized by some commentators, fans, and several past and present WWE female performers, including then-Divas Champion Charlotte, who were in favor of changing the championship to the Women's Championship. It was also changed because some WWE female wrestlers felt it diminished their athletic abilities and relegated them to "eye candy". Lita then announced that the winner of the Divas Championship triple threat match between Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks later that night would become the first-ever WWE Women's Champion, subsequently retiring the Divas Championship. Charlotte, the final Divas Champion, became the inaugural WWE Women's Champion when she defeated Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch. Following the reintroduction of the brand extension, then champion Charlotte was drafted to the Raw brand on the July 19, 2016 premiere episode of SmackDown Live, making the championship exclusive to Raw. In response, SmackDown created the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship on August 23, 2016. The WWE Women's Championship was subsequently renamed to reflect its exclusivity to Raw. When the title was introduced, it shared its name with the original Women's Championship. However, the new title does not share the same title history as the original, which was unified with the Divas Championship in 2010, with the combined title inheriting the latter's lineage and history. WWE acknowledges the original championship as its predecessor, and notes that the lineage of female champions dates back to The Fabulous Moolah's reign in 1956. Brand designation history Belt design The Raw Women's Championship belt is similar in appearance to the WWE World Championship belt, with a few notable differences. The strap is smaller to fit the champion, and white, as opposed to black. The die-cut WWE logo in the center plate sits on a red background, as opposed to a black one. The very small print below the logo reads "Women's Champion". Like the WWE World Championship belt, the Raw Women's Championship belt features two side plates, both separated by gold divider bars, with the WWE logo on the globe as default plates, which are customized with the current champion's logos as a similarity of the name plate feature of other belts. Title history Name Reigns Charlotte was the inaugural champion, who defeated Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch in a triple threat match on April 3, 2016 at WrestleMania 32; She is tied with Sasha Banks with the most reigns at 4. Sasha Banks is the youngest champion at 24 years old. Nia Jax is the oldest champion at 33 years old. Bayley is the first champion to walk in and out of WrestleMania as champion. And Alexa Bliss is the first female wrestler to hold both RAW and Smackdown! Women's Championships. Bliss has the longest combined reign at 398 days. Ronda Rousey has the longest reign at 231 days. Current champion The current champion is Becky Lynch, in her first reign. She defeated Ronda Rousey and Charlotte in a Triple Threat match on April 7, 2019 at WrestleMania 35 to win the championship. Custom Designs Charlotte wwe women s championship sideplates by nibble t-d9ycf10.png|With Charlotte's custom sideplates. Sasha banks wwe women s championship sideplates by nibble t-dacynab.png|With Sasha Banks's custom sideplates. RAW Women's Championship Bayley.png|with Bayley's custom sideplates. RAW Women's Championship Alexa Bliss.png|with Alexa Bliss' sideplates See also *World Wrestling Entertainment *Champion history - History of the wrestlers who have held the belt. *Title matches - Matches in which the title was defended. *Champion gallery - A gallery of all champions. Videos External links * WWE Raw Women's Championship at WWE.com * WWE Raw Women's Championship at CAGEMATCH.net Category:World Wrestling Entertainment championships Category:Women's championships Category:Singles championships